NGA.ie - Post 1923 - Sean Russell

Sean Russell

Sean Russell was born in Fairview, Dublin, in 1893. Along with thousands
of Dubliners, Russell embraced the republican revival and joined the paramilitary Volunteers. When the moment of truth came at Easter 1916 Russell wholeheartedly participated and in a manner which earned him the respect of his contemporaries. He was a consistently militant and ideologically focused republican. Although interned in the aftermath of the Rising, Russell was undeterred by the experience and immediately rejoined the Volunteers upon release. The Dubliner immersed himself in the activities of the IRA, as the Volunteers were increasingly known, and worked in public on behalf of their political allies in Sinn Fein. was born in Fairview, Dublin, in 1893. Along with thousands
of Dubliners, Russell embraced the republican revival and joined the paramilitary Volunteers. When the moment of truth came at Easter 1916 Russell wholeheartedly participated and in a manner which earned him the respect of his contemporaries. He was a consistently militant and ideologically focused republican. Although interned in the aftermath of the Rising, Russell was undeterred by the experience and immediately rejoined the Volunteers upon release. The Dubliner immersed himself in the activities of the IRA, as the Volunteers were increasingly known, and worked in public on behalf of their political allies in Sinn Fein.

Russell's role in the War of Independence remains largely undocumented but his position of Director of Munitions was responsible and challenging. This entailed close dealings with Rory O'Connor and other figures destined to make a major mark in Irish history. Unsurprisingly, Russell opposed the Treaty and joined the Republican forces during the Civil War. Following the defeat of the anti-Treaty campaign, Russell was one of the more authoritative personalities prepared to persevere. This resulted in harassment and imprisonment in the early years of the Free State.

In November 1925 George Gilmore had played a leading part in the rescue of Russell and almost twenty Volunteers from Mountjoy prison. He was on the run and back on GHQ until rearrested in early November 1927. During this time, in 1926, Russell accompanied Gerry Boland on a fruitless arms buying mission to Russia. There was no suggestion that Russell's interaction with a pariah communist regime indicated Bolshevik sympathies. In fact, Russell's opposition to wedding the IRA to a socialist agenda was one of the factors which obliged hard left elements to break away and form Saor Eire in 1931 and Republican Congress in 1934. Peadar O'Donnell and George Gilmore were amongst those driven out of the Movement by the traditionalist tendency to which Russell adhered.

In 1931, when Russell was detained for attempting to address a banned Bodenstown commemoration, it was O'Donnell who delivered the speech in his place. Clearly, personal bonds and mutual interests transcended disagreements on political methods. Russell was named in the Dail that year as QMG of the IRA but the jury expected to convict him for the Bodenstown infraction declined to do so. If closer to Pearse than Connolly, the internal disputes in which Russell featured were invariably centred on organizational and military tactics rather than crude animosity or rivalry. Similarly, Russell was no more an agent of communism in Russia in 1926 than fascism in Germany in 1940.

As the 1930s progressed the IRA's raison d'etre was increasingly called into question by its predictable critics within the Free Statue as well as by former allies attached to de Valera. Russell was one of the most authoritative members who insisted that the IRA must remain in existence until the Republic proclaimed in 1916 had been effected. While, it has been argued, he and de Valera discussed the possibility of armed republicans retreating into the shadows in April 1935, Fianna Fail simply would not provide the requisite guarantee of counter-partition measures to satisfy the Army Council. Accordingly, the IRA was proscribed once more in 1936 increasing the hazards for men like Russell and complicating the task of re-organization. The fact that a Fianna Fail administration ordered the crackdown led to a sense of bitterness and estrangement which greatly worsened during the grim 1940s.

As QMG Russell was in close communication with the leading figures of the Irish-American support networks which he visited in 1936. However, his interaction with allies across the Atlantic created tensions with other IRA commanders, not least Moss Twomey. Russell was suspended from the organization following a courtmartial but enjoyed more sympathy for his viewpoint than Twomey, Sean McBride or Tom Barry appreciated. Russell had brought proposals for a bombing campaign in England to the 1937 Army Convention. This had not been approved owing to concerns that men and supplies were insufficient to mount a meaningful campaign. However, Barry's far more modest alternative plan to attack Gough Barracks, Armagh, was also discounted. Factions had developed within the Movement as impatience mounted for some kind of armed initiative against partition. Crucially, there was overall agreement that no conflict would be sought with the forces of the Free State.

Ultimately, Russell's persistence and clear sightedness paid off. This undoubtedly owed much to the strength and credibility of his US connections as Clan na Gael would be called upon to redress some of the immediate shortfalls in finance and war materiel. In 1938 McGarrity paid a rare visit to Ireland where he met with Russell in the Spa Hotel, Lucan. Russell reputedly also met that year with de Valera in a final effort to explore the possibility of a constitutional push for reunification. McGarrity offered a life line to the IRA, de Valera sought its dissolution.

In April 1938 the General Army convention which assembled in Unity Hall, Marlborough Street advanced Russell to the position of Chief of Staff. Outstanding disciplinary issues dictated that he had to be appointed in absentia, a remarkable achievement given the problems of the previous two years. Opponents claimed the meeting was 'packed' with Russell's supporters but the essential fact remained that he had a substantial following who knew he would deliver the campaign for which the Irish-Americans had clamoured and now pledged to assist. An inspection tour of the units in England in mid-1938 confirmed that much work was required to underwrite an offensive across the Irish Sea. Against this negative trend, Russell secured the expert assistance of Jim 'Seamus' O'Donovan, ex-Director of Chemicals and Munitions. The Roscommon man provided a degree of technical and strategic rigour to what became known as the 'S-Plan'.

The 'S-Plan Campaign' commenced on 16 January 1939 after an ultimatum to the British Government failed to elicit acceptance of key IRA demands. The offensive closely resembled Rory O'Connor's sabotage of British economic targets during the War of Independence. Russell had extolled this precedent to McGarrity in Lucan. Power, finance, postal and telecommunication services were targeted with incendiaries and bombs, as were other symbols of British authority. In this respect Russell, an alleged extremist, was more reserved than either Michael Collins or Cathal Brugha who approved assassination operations in the 1920s. However, the IRA lacked the manpower to run the campaign from within England in 1939 and the transfer of logistic assistance and reinforcements exposed weaknesses. Safe houses, trained activists and high grade explosives were in short supply. Co-ordination was exceptionally difficult and the British authorities both vigilant and well resourced.